


New Life

by Danes (orphan_account)



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, High School, M/M, a lot of missing names i know
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-04-12
Updated: 2013-01-14
Packaged: 2017-11-03 12:53:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/381542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Danes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Shepard and his family move to Vancouver after an incident in Chicago and must adjust to the weird people of Normandy High School</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Vancouver Sux

**Author's Note:**

> for l-block at tumblr and tinychat.com/shenkobutts!
> 
> update: gave sheploo hair

The shuttle was silent as we passed over Vancouver, my rage at being forced to move away from Chicago silently fuming in the back with me, smashed between dozens of boxes. Dad sat in the front seat with Kahlee, our nanny and my biotic trainer, intent on trying to get into the traffic over the city without crashing.

Since dad was famous for being in the military once, we got a lot of money after he retired. Many reporters tried to take pictures of him when we were leaving, chattering to their cameras about why we were moving and where we could possibly be going. I didn’t understand why it mattered and didn’t care— all I cared about was leaving everything I’ve known behind.

I had lived in Chicago for my entire life, ever since dad found me as a crying toddler on the streets and adopted me. I grew up in an old house his grandparents had owned; despite the fact we had more than enough credits to move somewhere much nicer.

The move was sudden— even Kahlee didn’t know about it. Dad just told us one day to pack up our shit, that we were leaving and never coming back. I did what he said without a fuss, keeping my anger and biotics inside.

“Beautiful city,” Kahlee said with a light voice. “Don’t you think so, John?”

I shrugged and grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest. Through my light shirt, I could feel my dog tags pressing against my chest.

When I was found by my dad, I was wearing two dog tags on a chain, bearing the name SHEPARD, JOHN. Dad thought it fit, so that became my name. Nothing special about it; just the name of some person who was killed as a private in the First Contact War— the only reason I still wore it was that it was like a good luck charm.

“ _John_ …” Kahlee scolded, turning back to look me in the eye. “Answer my question.”

“It’s fine,” I mumbled. Kahlee took that as an acceptable answer and turned back to the front. After a few minutes, she began speaking again.

“I think you’re going to like it at Normandy High, John. It’s a great place— I went there when I was your age. They have an excellent biotic training program, not to mention an amazing football team.”

Dad finally broke his silence and chuckled. “I hope you’re not thinking about running off and becoming a student again, Sanders,” he joked. Dad never said anyone’s first name, not even mine. It took me a while to realize that my name was John, not Shepard.

Kahlee chortled, her laughter light and airy. God, it took all my power to not pop a boner right there. I had a major crush on her, no matter the age difference. I ran a hand through my shaggy hair, looking out the window as we began to descend.

Stepping out from the shuttle, my bones crackling as I moved, I examined my new home.

It was… well, it was really fucking big, to be honest. The entire house was just as old as our old house, maybe even more. The whole place looked like an old, haunted mansion, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was haunted. Behind the house were a large, empty field and a murky blue lake.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel some kind of connection spark between this place and I.

In a matter of hours, everything was taken from the shuttle and set up inside the house, just as night settled across the city. A few neighbors greeted us while we were moving in and offered to help, but dad said we were going to be all right and engaged in slight small talk before getting back to work. From what I picked up from their conversations, there was only one other human kid on the entire block. Whoop de-fucking doo.

Dad offered me a room in the front of the house, but I took the attic, located on the fourth floor. Despite the dust and squeaking floorboards, I fell in love with the room almost immediately after setting foot in it. There was a huge window door that led out onto a small balcony, overlooking the lake.

I was taping my old photographs to the walls when someone knocked on my door. I called for them to come in, and Kahlee entered the room with dinner. “I thought you might be hungry after the move, so I made some steak.”

Smiling, I walked to Kahlee and accepted the plate that held four steaks on it, sitting on my bed as I ate greedily. We exchanged small talk, Kahlee doing most of the talking while I just grunted. That kid on the street was mentioned again— he was some sort of biotic, it seemed. I finished my food and handed Kahlee the plate, which she took and left without a word.

I jumped under the covers, clothes still on, staring up at a picture of my best friends from Chicago. Listing their names in my head, I lulled myself into a fitful sleep.

I began school tomorrow. I could only pray that nothing spectacular would happen to me here.


	2. LOL W3LCOM3!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this took so long. im sick right now and ive been rping and ive been talking to my bf about our homestuck cosplays rfjadkgjklf;agjefo[akdl;vbm,.

Kahlee dropped me off at the school, waving goodbye as I pulled up the hood of my N7 jacket and slipped on my black, wide-rimmed glasses, hopping out of the shuttle. I couldn’t hear her anyways; I was playing Mozart in my earpiece too loud to let in any sound.

The school was the length of an Alliance freighter and three stories high, if you didn’t include the basement rooms Kahlee had mentioned. Kids of all races hung out in the large courtyard, pouring in and out of the school doors. Shouldering my bag, I skipped up the steps, weaving my way through a crowd of football players throwing a ball each other.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped inside was the graffiti along the walls. It was all in the school’s colors, white and blue, that came together to create a platoon of faceless N7 soldiers. Above them waved a banner that read the school’s name and motto, “You will never be alone.”

Back in Chicago, my gang had sort of the same motto, more or less.

“Hey, stop it!” a deep, womanly voice cried. I turned around and saw a bunch of krogans ganging up on two girls, one human and the other asari. The human tried to get some shots in at the biggest one while the asari tried to pick up her datapads.

I watched with a partly opened mouth, trying to make it seem as if I wasn’t staring. I pushed my way to the girls as the krogans migrated, bending over to pick up a small journal that had fallen. The girl was staring at me with wide eyes, as if shocked by my act of kindness.

“Y’dropped this,” I mumbled, stating the obvious. The asari flashed me a small smile before snatching the notebook out of my hand and running off into a nearby classroom, but not before lingering in the doorway. I found it somewhat hard not to look at that fine ass, but what can I say? I’m a connoisseur of asses.

The human was standing next to me, studying me with a raised eyebrow. She had a sharp, organized look; her hair was pinned up in a clean bun, hardly any make-up, and a junior alliance marine uniform on. She was actually somewhat scary, but the look was softened by her kind, brown eyes and soft lips.

“Hey, thanks,” she said quietly, patting me on the back. “Liara’s not bold enough to protect herself, so I look out for her. We’re not the most popular kids on campus, so we are picked on a lot. I guess you don’t know that though, being new and all.”

I raise an eyebrow and the girl laughs.

“A new kid wouldn’t help losers like us out. By the way, name’s Ashley Williams.”

“Shepard. John Shepard,” I muttered.

After that, Ashley showed me to my classes, which most of them I shared with her.

I didn’t see Liara for the rest of the day… but, at the very least, she had caught my eye.


	3. Don't have buttsex!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is fun to write. im almost forgetting the fact that it's going to be sad and shit :c
> 
> if you have any headcanons you would like to see, please leave a comment or message me! i would love to incorporate your ideas into this story!

First class of the day was health with Professor Mordin. I figured it was one of those classes where I could easily just lay my head on my desk and sleep, but the professor proved otherwise. The guy was a salarian, which didn’t surprise me, but the way he _talked_ was enough to make my head spin.

“Ah! New student!” Professor Mordin cried when I walked in with Ashley, who gave me a pitiful smile and hurried to her seat. “Human. Seventeen. Smart. Possibly genius. Strong. From… Illinois? Chicago, exactly. Biotic. Engineer. Dreams to be N7. Obvious, due to jacket. Virgin, but has gotten quite far. Gay, but in denial.”

My ears flushed with anger and embarrassment as a few classmates chuckled, but the professor turned on them and glared, shutting them up immediately. I was already beginning to hate this school.

I stuffed my hands into my pockets as I took an empty seat near a purple-suited quarian girl, who quickly flicked a paper note to me.

SORRY ABOUT THE PROFESSOR, the note read. HE DOES THAT WITH ALL OF US. HE’S PROBABLY WRONG ABOUT YOUR SEXUALITY, THOUGH, LOL. :) WELCOME TO NORMANDY HIGH!

At the bottom, the quarian signed her name, Tali’Zorah nar Rayya. I drew a little version of her underneath her signature, giving a thumb up and winking. I dropped it to the floor, just beside her feet, which she picked up quickly.

We began passing notes back and forth; the salarian at the front of the class went on about krogan physiology or something, trying to hold back chuckles at the jokes of how the teacher probably never was laid in his life and things like that.

When I drew a tiny version of the professor being hit in the head with a penis, Professor Solus was at my side immediately, snatching the note from Tali’s hand. Both of us sank into our seats, staring at each other with wide eyes.

“Who drew this?”

Tali tried to raise her hand, but I stopped her and said I did, I drew it. I couldn’t let someone as innocent as her take the blame. From what she said in her note, she’d never gotten a write up in her entire life in school.

The professor studied it with a raised eyebrow, chuckling.

“Detail is great!” he cried. I stared at him incredulously. “Human penis, I take it? Quite large. More than average for human at this scale. Would you mind drawing a model of human reproduction system like this for class? Willing to give extra credit.”

“I, uh, sure!” I stumbled, grabbing the note from his hands. “No problem!”

Professor Solus smiled and went back to the front of the class, explaining the homework assignment to the entire class. Breathing in relief, I gave Tali a low five, smiling at her. When the bell rang to release us, the entire class crowded around us to get a look at the picture. I tried to show as many people as possible before the professor herded us outside.

“What do you have next?” Tali asked as Ashley caught up with us in the hall. Tali was short, barely coming up to my nose, forcing her to strain her neck looking up at tall people. I introduced Ashley and Tali quickly, pulling out my schedule.

“Human Studies, with Mr. Harper,” I replied, causing the girls to flinch and hiss. “What?”

“Mr. Harper is the worst teacher ever,” Ashley explained. “He’s super pro-human and hates anyone who isn’t. He never shuts up about how humans will someday rule the universe and stuff like that. He’s a jackass.”

“And he assigns thirty pages of bookwork a day,” Tali added. “I had him my freshmen year. It was terrible. I wouldn’t have had it if it wasn’t a mandatory class.”

“But, hey, he does pick favourites!” Ash cheerily said, trying to look at the bright side for my sake. “You never know, he might just give you a hundred for being in that class. He did that with Lawson and that girl on the football team.”

I shrugged, not very assured. I went downstairs and the girls went upstairs, waving goodbye and promising they’d see me at lunch. I had made some friends already and my first period teacher liked me, so that was something. Who knows, maybe I’m a little too pessimistic about this place.


	4. Booty booty booty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sighn i want to go home :c

The Human Studies class was the last door on the left of the first basement floor, marked by a giant, three-headed dog that hung over the window. The class inside had no lights or décor, just a holographic projector, a mahogany desk, and rows of raised platforms that acted as desks— it reminded me of a college classroom.

By the time I walked in, just as the tardy bell rang, all of the kids were in their seats. I tried to use the darkness as my advantage and slip into an empty chair near the back, but the teacher looked up from his desk and glared at me.

“Late, are we?” he snarled, staring at me with his unnaturally blue eyes. I shook my head, producing a scowl from him. “What is your name?”

“Shepard,” I murmured, biting my lip. The look on the teacher’s face softened in surprise.

“John Shepard?” I nodded. The teacher laughed and smiled, getting up from his seat and striding up to me, shaking my hand roughly. I scrunched my nose at the smell of cigarettes that perfumed him. “I taught your mother! Please, sit down.”

The entire class stared at me as I took the seat in the back, pulling up the hood of my jacket once more. There was a buff, dark-skinned kid sitting next to me who smiled at me, stretching his huge lips. He introduced himself as Jacob Taylor and explained what we were doing. It was some bullshit about the First Contact War, so I took out my sketchpad and drew the asari girl I had seen earlier, only naked.

Jacob did the work for me, without my asking, and turned it in for me. I was sure the teacher had seen what had happened, but he didn’t raise any fuss about it. When Jacob got back, I showed him the drawing I had made, stifling laughter with him. A girl in front of us turned back to glare at us, eliciting an apology from Jacob.

“Who’s she?” I asked Jacob.

“That’s Miranda Lawson, head of the cheerleader team and smartest student on campus. We used to go out, but it didn’t work out to well, but we stayed friends,” he explained. I shrugged and began a new drawing, a back view of the girl taking off a tight cat suit. Jacob freaked out at that, trying to hide it from the girl when she looked back again, this time to look me in the eye.

My god, she was a hottie.

She wore a tight, low plunge shirt that showed off some fabulous as hell boobs and a tight, short skirt that showed off the straps of her thongs. She wore black boots that reached her knees, accenting her toned legs. Miranda caught me staring at her and winked slyly before turning back to her work.

The way Jacob stared at me, I swore he was about to get on his knees and bow to me. Turns out, Miranda, otherwise known as the Ice Queen, was not easily swayed into the throes of lust, despite her way of dressing. It had taken Jacob five years to get just his hand under her shirt, which happened just before the broke up.

“She’s one hell of a catch, dude,” he whispered as the bell rang. My eyes followed her down the steps, and I swear she was giving me a show on purpose. “Get her while you can.”


	5. doooooooooooooooood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start to look up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> can you say finally? god i hate writers block

My third class was AP Engineering with Mr. Adams on the bottom floor, filled mostly with quarians and some humans. Tali was in that class, so she took me under her wing and showed me all the ropes. The next period I spent in study hall, just before lunch. We were allowed to do anything we liked, so I took the time to draw a bunch of Black Widows.

Finally, it was time for lunch, and man was I starving. I raced to the mess hall to find an open seat, but the entire school beat me to it. I could see no one I had met earlier today and no hands burst into the air to have me join them.

That’s when I saw him: that one lonely dude who sat at an empty table. A smile burst across my face and I made a beeline to the table. When I got there, the kid didn’t glance up from his sandwich crumbs and crust, so I took it as an invitation to sit down. We sat the entire time in silence until the very end, when a crippled guy and his bot came up to us and sat next to the silent guy.

“Kaidan! What’s up!” he cried, slapping his back and causing the kid to choke on his water. He turned to me and extended his hand. “Yo, I’m Joker, best pilot in the universe, and this is Edi, my ship.”

I took Joker’s hand and raised an eyebrow. “Your ship…?”

The bot nods. “What Jeff is saying is that I am the AI of his ship given to him by the high school, on Mr. Harper’s behalf. Jeff unshackled me and gave me this body in return for saving his life, but that is another story altogether,” she explains with a monotonous voice.

The kid I was sitting with, Kaidan, looked up and shrugged, opening his mouth to speak before being cut off by Joker.

“So, new kid, what’s your name?”

“Shepard,” I reply automatically, brushing some hair out of my eyes and adjusting the collar of my jacket. “John Shepard,” I added upon seeing the curious looks on their faces.

Joker turned his attention back to Kaidan, giving him a sly smile. “So… how goes your mating ritual with that girl? Whatsername…”

“Rahna,” he says quietly, a slight blush colouring his pale cheeks.

“Yeah, that’s who! This guy is crazy for her,” Joker explained with a loud whisper, as if he had a secret to tell. “I mean head-over-heels for the girl, and she doesn’t know he even exists.” Kaidan’s face has guilt written all over it, and I can’t stand the look. I just want to jump to his side and tell him everything’s gonna be all right and—

“Shepard?” Kaidan has grabbed my shoulder, looming above me like a hawk. I look up at him, gawking. People are rushing all around us, a stampede of teenagers hurrying to class, but all I can see is this guy.

This school might be worth it after all.


	6. 2+2=5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, yes! It is I, writing more to my favourite story yet! Expect more, hopefully.

AP Algebra II was next, with a... geth. That's right. A motherfucking geth was teaching my fucking math class.  
This would be interesting. The class was in the basement, just across from Mr. Harper's room. I entered the  
room to find the room filled and quite noisy, but without our teacher. A new seat had been jammed into the  
back, screwing with the neat order of the desks. I walked to the seat and nodded at a few others I'd seen in  
my classes earlier, although none of my new friends were with me in this class.

I sat next to two turians, one blue and the other red. The blue one looked bored as hell, leaning his cheek (if  
that's what they called it) on his claw, doodling little sniper rifles all over his paper. The red turian next to me sat  
as if he had a rod up his ass, but had a friendly look in his eyes. I took out my sketchpad and began to doodle.  
The blue turian took an obvious interest.

"Dude, that's sick," he complimented with what could only be called a grin, pointing towards the drawing of  
Miranda in a catsuit. "Ice Queen, right?"

I nodded. He whistled.

"Hot damn. Name's Garrus, by the way. Garrus Vakarian, totally not a pervert."

I grinned and told him my name just as the geth teacher stepped into the room. The class went completely silent, all eyes fixed on the  
geth.

"Shepard-Human," it droned. "This unit welcomes you to this educational environment."

I nodded curtly. "Thank you..."

"This unit is refered to as Legion."

"Okay, Mr. Legion."

"Just Legion."

I nodded again, deciding not to confuse myself further.

The geth turned around to face the board (a fucking board, ladies and gentleman- I have seen everything) and  
began writing equations. They were really quite simple, if you thought about it like I did. Of course, not  
everyone was a mathematical genius like me, as Kahlee liked to say. While the other kids scratched their  
heads, my pen flew across the paper at 90 mph.

The geth began speaking again and the pencils moved even faster. I swore I could hear some kids break their  
pencils.

When the lesson was finished, I'd filled at least 2 pages, front and back. My fingers hurt like a motherfucker,  
unrelenting in their cries of pains. I heard people cracking their knuckles and did the same, a satisfying _pop!_  
resounding each time.

The homework was passed out, just some equations we had to solve, and I set straight to work. Garrus  
looked confused as hell, so I turned my desk to him and helped him with his work, which he was absolutely  
grateful for. The bell rang and I showed Garrus my schedule, hoping for some insight about my next class.

"P.E., huh?" he remarked, falling into step with me. "I'm going there, too. Pretty fun, if you ignore the football  
players and cheerleaders."

"Football players?"

"Yeah, it's some human sport where you kick a ball, even though you never really use your feet-"

"I know what football is, dude. I'm asking who they are."

"Oh, uh... mostly human and krogan players, but there are a few turians on the team. Be wary of the krogans,  
though," Garrus added as we dodged an asari and human making out in the middle of the hallway. "They're  
very territorial and don't take kindly to new students. Especially with Wrex leading them."

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but found myself being pushed into the locker room by Garrus.  
"Hurry!" I could hear him hiss. "Before Wrex gets here!"


End file.
